Etymon #21
The reformed dread
Borrowed from Latin, the word entered English in 1667, in Milton's Paradise Lost, where it described the Serpent of Genesis with brazen eyes and a hairy mane.
The word reached English from classical Latin, in part through Middle French. The Latin form was a compound, joining a verb meaning 'to frighten' with a suffix meaning 'to make'.
The earliest meaning was the literal compound: causing fear. The Latin root named anything that filled the mind with dread, anything that froze the body with awe.
Two familiar English words come from the same Latin root for fear: TERROR and TERRIBLE. Both still carry the sense of dread it began with.
